Lang-Montgomery, who has been coaching the Saints for the last four seasons, has a record of 31-72 overall and 18-54 in the Peach Belt.

Lang-Montgomery believes the record reflects the team’s change in philosophy and the addition of five new players.

“Our personnel allowed us to be more effective with the things we were already doing. When you are fully committed to something, whatever it is, everything else becomes secondary. Your whole mentality changes and you do whatever it takes to get what you want,” she said.

The Saints have been led by junior, and Florida State College at Jacksonville transfer, Williesha “Shorty” Spencer, who is averaging a team-high 16.1 points per game and shooting 41 percent from 3-point range.

Spencer said she feels this season’s turnaround can be directly linked to the hard work of Lang-Montgomery.

“As a first-time player of hers I noticed she does not give us room to slack off or think its OK to not work hard. She does not let us get too comfortable every time after we win, either. She is a strong believer in the family concept meaning the team is your family which is a reason why I think the team is so close,” Spencer said.

The Saints began the season ranked 14th in the Peach Belt preseason polls.

The ranking did not sit well with Lang-Montgomery and the rest of the Saints.

“We knew as a team that that was not who we are and it was up to us to prove it. We want to get better every game and be competitive,” Lang-Montgomery said.

The Saints finished last season with a 4-22 record and Spencer and the rest of the team understood that this season was a chance for the team to start fresh and be a dark horse in the Peach Belt.

“The motivation was the fact that everyone looked down on us and that the Peach Belt ranked Young Harris, who made their first appearance in the Peach Belt this year, before us. We sent a message, this is the new Flagler,” Spencer said.

The Saints goal of making the Peach Belt tournament was completed on Feb. 20 after beating conference opponent Francis Marion 88-77.

Spencer said the Saints did not want to celebrate too much on the playoff berth because they understood there is a bigger goal in their sights.

“There is no room to be complacent or arrogant because even though we made it this far there’s still a place we know we need to get by working hard, which is the championship,” she said.

After the win, Lang-Montgomery put in place a new goal for the rest of the season.

“To finish strong and make some noise when we get there,” Lang-Montgomery said.

The conference tournament will be March 7-10 at Columbus State University and the Saints will be no worse than a No. 3 seed in the East Division.